opinionMOSCOW, AFP -Communists waving Marxist pamphlets and Twitter storms praising the Soviet Union are probably not what the thousands of Russians who rallied in 1991 against a coup by anti-democracy hardliners expected to see 25 years later. And yet as Russia marks the symbolic anniversary of the August 1991 putsch this week, pro-Kremlin media have concentrated on nostalgia for the Soviet regime, while the authorities have barred a rally by those who manned the barricades. On August 19, 1991, a group of security chiefs and Communist bosses who opposed Mikhail Gorbachev's decentralising reforms declared themselves in charge, ushering in three days of turbulence. “For 25 years we have been doing exactly the same thing every year,” said Mikhail Shneider, the event's organiser. - Short-lived euphoria - ======================== This week, while barring Shneider's rally, city authorities sanctioned a Communist demonstration and former Soviet officials were shown on state TV voicing nostalgia for the repressive regime.

Source: Sunday Times August 19, 2016 16:18 UTC